Director Zach Cregger – known for Barbarian and more recently modern horror fairytale Weapons – has shed more light on his upcoming Resident Evil film, which will begin shooting later this year. Most notably, the director has said the film will be “true to the experience of the games”, and “lives” in the world of Resident Evil 2 and 3. That being said, Cregger said his adaptation “adheres more to the tone of 4”.
Cregger was a guest on the Double Toasted YouTube channel, when the conversation turned towards Resident Evil. “It takes place in the world of the games, but most importantly the journey you’ll have as a viewer of watching this movie is going to be similar to the journey you have as a player when you play these games,” the director said of the adaptation.
“And what that means is it follows one protagonist from point A to point B as they just descend deeper and deeper and deeper into hell.”
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Cregger continued: “And as someone who’s played I don’t know how many thousands and thousands of hours of Resident Evil, I just feel like I know how that pacing can go, and it’s inherently cinematic, and I feel like there’s a great movie that can live inside of this world and inside of that sort of pacing. And I’m just really, really pumped about the story that we get to tell here.
“So, I feel like I’m champing at the bit to make this thing.”
As he has said before, the director reiterated he has not seen any of the previous Resident Evil films, saying there are fans of the movies that are “probably not really prepared” for what he has planned. “But, I think that people that are fans of the games are probably going to be stoked,” he said.
Cregger said the “thing about the games is that the game franchise itself is incredibly malleable”, noting that both 2 and 3 take place in Raccoon City, while in Resident Evil 4 we all head overseas with Leon (“and it feels like it’s in the past even though it’s not”). Resident Evil 7 he likens to “a Texas Chainsaw kind of a thing”, before then saying “8 is like some ancient European village and definitely in the past”.
“So, the games don’t even have some sort of a set lore. It’s not rigid. And so I don’t think I’m taking any more liberties with this than the game franchise does at all,” Cregger concluded. “So, I’m colouring within the lines.”
Cregger’s Resident Evil film is expected to be released on 18th September, 2026.
Image credit: Sony Pictures
As for Resident Evil games, our Alex recently sat down with Kōshi Nakanishi to chat about how Resident Evil 9: Requiem is the “most extreme” title in the series yet.
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